6,000 tea workers face eviction threat due to establishment of a special economic zone in Habiganj

Recently the government of Bangladesh undertook plan to acquire 500 acres of land belonging to tea workers for establishment of Bangladesh Economic Zones in Chunarughat upazila under Habiganj district. Around 6,000 tea workers belong to indigenous Santal community have been living on this land for generations. They will be uprooted from their ancestral land if the government plan is implemented.

Tea workers alleged that they get only Taka 69 (US$ 0.80) per day for their job. Even after that, they have been living happily because they have land to cultivate and reside in. But, as president of Chandpur Tea Garden Panchayet Committee Sadhan Santal said, there is a conspiracy to grab their ancestral land in the name of building a special economic zone.

It is worth mentioning that around 6,000 Santals are dependent on 500 acres of land of Chunarughat upazila for living and cultivation. Among them, around 1,100 Santals work at the Chandpur Tea Garden. The Santal labourers claimed that their predecessors made the land cutting hills and forests 150-200 years ago. There is a graveyard of their forefathers. They cannot give away their ancestral land.

In a discussion on “Human Rights of Tea Garden Workers and Their Socio-Economic Development” jointly organised by Indigenous Social Development Organisation and Tea Garden Workers on 2 August 2015 at National Press Club in Dhaka, the workers of Chandpur Tea Garden in Habiganj threatened that they would rather die than give up their ancestral land chosen for setting up a special economic zone. (This report has been prepared based on information collected through Kapaeeng’s networks and news of The Daily Star titled ‘Tea workers won’t give ancestral land’ published on 3 August 2015.)